When I was growing up, my Granny was the family packrat. Her house was absolutely over-run with random crap. Her hall was lined with bookshelves...they were all full. Her pantry was bursting at the seams...maybe it was those extra, but necessary 8 bottles of Tabasco sauce (you never know when you are going to run out of Tabasco sauce!). She had a California King-sized bed with a wooden trundle underneath to hold all of the shoes that would not fit in her closet. She had 4 completely full jewelry boxes...They had a "shed" outside where my grandfather, affectionately known to his grandaughters as "Bob," had to shove anything that belonged to him because there was simply no room for it in the house. Granny was a retailer's dreamgirl....she was the queen of "crap!"
Fast-forward 20 years or so...As our sweet Stephen gets older, he has begun to form bizarre attachments to random things. I have no choice but to write it off as genetic. The lastest on his list of most important "stuff'" is a red towel. Allow me to give you some background....
Two Christmases ago, Keith's parents bought the boys these super cute hooded towels from Pottery Barn. Sam's is a giraffe and Stephen's is a frog. So everytime they take a bath, when it is time to get out, Stephen begins to chant, "Froggy! Froggy! Ribbit! Ribbit!" So one of us, grabs his favorite towel, wraps him up and wrangles his slippery little self across the house to find pajamas. This is the bath ritual.
One day, Froggy was dirty or too far away...for whatever reason, Keith dried Stephen off with a red towel. Apparently, Stephen bonded with the towel! That night at bedtime, he cried for the towel. The next day, he tried to take the towel to school. Now, Froggy has been replaced. Stephen must have the red towel. Last night, at the end of his bath, he began to cry for the towel. I, of course, quickly got him the towel, because I was tired and in no mood for battle. After he got all "pajamed-up" for the night, he still had the towel. So here he is, playing computer games with the towel...
Fast-forward 20 years or so...As our sweet Stephen gets older, he has begun to form bizarre attachments to random things. I have no choice but to write it off as genetic. The lastest on his list of most important "stuff'" is a red towel. Allow me to give you some background....
Two Christmases ago, Keith's parents bought the boys these super cute hooded towels from Pottery Barn. Sam's is a giraffe and Stephen's is a frog. So everytime they take a bath, when it is time to get out, Stephen begins to chant, "Froggy! Froggy! Ribbit! Ribbit!" So one of us, grabs his favorite towel, wraps him up and wrangles his slippery little self across the house to find pajamas. This is the bath ritual.
One day, Froggy was dirty or too far away...for whatever reason, Keith dried Stephen off with a red towel. Apparently, Stephen bonded with the towel! That night at bedtime, he cried for the towel. The next day, he tried to take the towel to school. Now, Froggy has been replaced. Stephen must have the red towel. Last night, at the end of his bath, he began to cry for the towel. I, of course, quickly got him the towel, because I was tired and in no mood for battle. After he got all "pajamed-up" for the night, he still had the towel. So here he is, playing computer games with the towel...
Now, it is important to note that "red towel" is not the only special item in Stephen's life. To go to bed, Stephen must have "green fuzzy" (a soft blanket he has had since he was a baby), "taggie" (another remnant of his baby days), "milk one" (a cup of warm milk), "bearaffe" (a stuffed bear in a giraffe suit that Sam got as a gift when he was born), Snuggle Puppy (his favorite bedtime book), and RED TOWEL (preferably still damp from the evening bath)! I promise you this next photo is not staged....
BEHOLD THE NEW FAMILY PACKRAT!!!
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